It was my sophomore year of high school when I had gone through many changes in my life. But when I had a stressful day or just wanted to have a brain dump over anything I was dealing with, I started to find relief in writing out my feelings.
For me, journaling has been comforting in many ways. Since I have a hard time expressing how I feel verbally at times, just being able to type or write away my feelings has calming dealing with the events of the past few years of my life.
I mainly prefer to journal on the Apple Notes app on my iPhone where I have many entries from over the years, organized under a folder titled Thoughts. I have a simple system: if there is something on my mind or memories I want to remember later, I just type away. Usually, I tend to listen to music while I gather my thoughts.
Sometimes it takes me five minutes, sometimes it takes me thirty; it just depends on how much I want to brain dump at the given moment. It is very therapeutic, and once I am finished I feel infinitely calmer. During my freshman year of college, it was especially helpful whenever I was having a hard day.
While I do like the idea of journaling on my phone since I always have it with me, writing by hand is also very effective. Earlier this year, two of my good friends gave me journals for my birthday. Who knows what vibe I was giving off during February that they both thought of the same gift for me, but regardless I am very thankful to each of them.
One of the journals I was given is called 52 Lists for Calm, a special notebook because it gives you different prompts to consider each day. Some of the prompts I have enjoyed writing on are, “Imagine yourself at fourteen” or, “List the people you think of as your chosen family.” I love that this journal gives you a unique way to think of topics you may not consider and broaden your thoughts as you write. I sometimes tend to forget much I have grown as a person over the years, so it is a valuable tool to have to myself reflect on my past, while also consider my present and future.
I am glad I started journaling because it has been able to give me an outlet to let out all of my feelings, especially on the hard days. If you want to pick up a new routine, I would highly recommend trying it out for yourself.